Quote Originally Posted by odinsgrandson View Post
They don't really add- by that I mean that they do not surprise us or tell a much better story than Obi-wan did in the originals.
Aaron Diaz did a good job of [URL="http://starwars1999.tumblr.com/post/60034251498/the-star-wars-prequels-some-things-are-better"]covering this already[/URL], but I don't think it's a story that could be told well. Even if one ignores the layers of production issues, the prequels aren't really a story so much as a backstory for the original movies, and one that undermines almost all of their narrative hooks. Both A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back build up to the latter's climax (retroactively in ANH's case, but still), that great granddaddy of sci-fi plot twists: "No, I am your father." If the audience is in on the gag from the beginning, it doesn't make any sense for the originals to have been told this way.

They didn't need to work this way - nothing mandated that Episodes 1 - 3 had to even include Anakin Skywalker, much less focus intensely on his rise and fall. Really, the originals suggest that they shouldn't have at all. Why Lucas decided that they'd be what they are is beyond me, but the premise would make the movies weird and awkward even if they'd been executed with minimal competence.